Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Ghosthunter’s Guide to England: On the Trail of the Paranormal
    The Ghosthunter’s Guide to England: On the Trail of the Paranormal
    The Ghosthunter’s Guide to England: On the Trail of the Paranormal
    Ebook354 pages4 hours

    The Ghosthunter’s Guide to England: On the Trail of the Paranormal

    By Rupert Matthews

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The Ghosthunter’s Guide to England takes the reader on a haunted journey round the counties of England. It explains where ghosts have been seen and the human stories that lie behind their inability to rest in peace.England has been described as the most haunted place on earth. The enormous number of ghosts, apparitions, spectres, phantoms, poltergeists and black dogs discovered and detailed in this book chillingly bear this out.Some tales are so strange or terrifying that they will be hard to forget. There are reports of a phantom coach and four horses galloping up to a house in Bath’s Royal Crescent; a sinister ghost ship spotted off the Cornish coastline; the terrifying screams of King Edward II as he was brutally murdered in Berkeley Castle; and a ghostly tram moving along Blackpool Promenade. More recent hauntings include the popular TV actor, Sid James, who died of a heart attack on stage at the Empire Theatre in Sunderland. His ghost is still seen sitting by the make-up mirror in his dressing room.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCountryside Books
    Release dateOct 2, 2006
    ISBN9781846748929
    The Ghosthunter’s Guide to England: On the Trail of the Paranormal
    Author

    Rupert Matthews

    Rupert Matthews has written over 150 books for different publishers, achieving significant sales in a variety of markets both in the UK and abroad. His works have been translated into 19 languages and have been shortlisted for a number of awards. Rupert has been a freelance writer for 20 years, working in-house at a major book publisher before going freelance.

    Read more from Rupert Matthews

    Related to The Ghosthunter’s Guide to England

    Related ebooks

    Curiosities & Wonders For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Alien Zoo

      Nov 2, 2023

      KARL SHUKER ponders a mysterious golden orb and greets an unexpected canine hybrid On 30 August 2023, a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) run by the Seascape Alaska 5 expedition, launched by the USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NO

      3 min read

    • Article

      In The Wake Of Morag

      Jul 15, 2021

      In the summer of 1979, Morag wasn’t the only strange and elusive entity in the vicinity of Loch Morar: two LN&MP (Loch Ness and Morar Project) members told of encountering a mysterious American who claimed to be living in a cave on the northern shore

      15 min read

    • Article

      The Bigfeet Of Britain

      Nov 3, 2022

      The Bigfeet Of Britain
      15 min read

    • Article

      Hair-raising Heirlooms

      Apr 13, 2021

      If you’ve got a spare five minutes, a quick search of internet selling sites will bring up numerous supposedly cursed antiques for sale. ‘Haunted’ objects on offer range from dolls to tea sets, mirrors to watches – and many of the adverts are posted

      4 min read

    • Article

      Horror In Highgate

      Jul 9, 2019

      Horror In Highgate
      2 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Dream talk

      Sep 28, 2021

      Let’s Dream talk
      3 min read

    • Article

      Inside Prince Harry And Meghan Markle’s New Multi Million-dollar Montecito Life

      Mar 23, 2021

      Sunset walks along unspoiled beaches, hiking in the scenic foothills of the Los Padres forest and dining at the chicest neighbourhood restaurants — and all a stone’s throw from their sprawling $14.65 million (£10.5 million), 7.4-acre estate. It’s ea

      4 min read

    • Article

      Outer Source

      Nov 23, 2021

      Outer Source
      2 min read

    • Article

      UFO Films And UFO Flaps

      Feb 24, 2022

      The interaction and influence of the media on how UFOs are reported and experienced is a cornerstone of the psychosocial hypothesis (PSH; see FT400:52-53) to explaining the belief in extraterrestrial UFO invaders. Martin Kottmeyer, in the pages of Ma

      4 min read

    • Article

      Of Panics And Penises

      Nov 30, 2023

      Of Panics And Penises
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Weirdest Ghosts Of All?

      Feb 25, 2021

      The Weirdest Ghosts Of All?
      4 min read

    • Article

      WHY dogs MATTER

      Jul 15, 2019

      WHY dogs MATTER
      3 min read

    • Article

      Crazy Critter

      Feb 16, 2021

      Crazy Critter
      2 min read

    • Article

      Postcards from Fairyland

      Jun 15, 2023

      Postcards from Fairyland
      10 min read

    • Article

      A Boardgame From An Alien?

      Dec 2, 2021

      In the summer of 1990, a board game would find itself at the centre (quite literally) of the crop circle phenomenon. Operation Blackbird was already into its second night. This high profile, three-week investigation into crop circles was partly funde

      5 min read

    • Article

      Touring The Whitby Way

      Nov 12, 2021

      Touring The Whitby Way
      7 min read

    • Article

      Get your ROCKS OFF!

      Sep 28, 2021

      Get your ROCKS OFF!
      4 min read

    • Article

      Black Christmas

      Oct 26, 2021

      Black Christmas
      3 min read

    • Article

      Country To The Core

      Nov 24, 2021

      Country To The Core
      5 min read

    • Article

      Fairies, Folklore And Forteana

      Dec 2, 2021

      Regular readers will remember that the first Fairy Census was published, with 500 accounts, in 2017 (see FT362:30-37) and is available online. As noted in the last edition of this column, I am presently getting ready for a big push to finish Fairy Ce

      2 min read

    • Article

      You Hunt With The Beaver?

      May 12, 2021

      You Hunt With The Beaver?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Paranormal Cold Case Investigating History’s Most Spine-chilling Encounters

      Jun 10, 2022

      “Do you believe in ghosts?” I ask. “No,” comes Laura’s firm and immediate reply. “But have you seen one?” I press. “Yes,” she says. “And the ghost I think I saw was my friend. My best friend.” People often ask me which of my cases has sent the bigges

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Story Of WITCHES

      Oct 20, 2021

      Many of those dressing up as witches and ghouls for Halloween know little of the real history of witches. We see modern incarnations in culture as harmless, like Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch children’s books, and the trainee witches from the Harry P

      3 min read

    • Article

      Did You Know?

      May 11, 2021

      Although the Hope Diamond is the most famous cursed diamond in the world, it’s not the only one. Diamond superstitions exist in folklore and mythology from all around the world. A traditional Eastern superstition is that the possession of extremely l

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Ruskington Horror

      Jan 28, 2021

      The Ruskington Horror
      17 min read

    • Article

      Michael Palin

      Sep 22, 2022

      Michael Palin
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Ghosthunter’s Guide to England

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Ghosthunter’s Guide to England - Rupert Matthews

      Bedfordshire

      The gentle landscapes of Bedfordshire are often heedlessly passed by. Far too many people rush through on their way to or from London, and many of the county’s residents commute into London and so barely see their home county except at weekends. The unkindest slight of all is the dismissal of the county as ‘Brussels sprout country’, for its devotion to market gardening to feed the consumers of London. This is a shame, for Bedfordshire is one of England’s most gentle counties and is filled with architectural and historic wonders.

      And it is filled with ghosts.

      One of the most terrifying to encounter is that of Sir Roland Alstons in Odell. It is not that Sir Roland himself was a particularly frightening character, though he was a quarrelsome fellow, it is what his ghost brings in its wake that causes the fear. It is best, all things considered, to make oneself scarce if this ghost is seen riding through the village.

      Sir Roland lived in the 17th century and was a tempestuous man who gambled recklessly, brawled enthusiastically and fought frequent duels. Despite his wild ways he never came to serious harm and, it was whispered, he had the luck of the Devil. Then early one morning Sir Robert’s body was found lying inside the village church, the door locked and bolted as if the man had been desperate to keep someone – or something – outside. And etched deep into the solid timber of the door were scorched claw marks as if some gigantic taloned hand had scrabbled at the door, burning it with intense heat.

      THE HAUNTED PARISH CHURCH OF ODELL STANDS OUTSIDE THE VILLAGE, ITS TOWER BEING BARELY VISIBLE FROM THE HOUSES.

      Sir Roland’s servants had a disturbing tale to tell. The previous evening a tall, well-dressed man had come calling. The dark stranger had barely entered the house, before Sir Roland fled at high speed. The visitor followed, laughing and jeering and saying that Sir Roland could not break the bargain now the time had come to pay. Soon gossip had it that Sir Roland had sold his soul in return for earthly success and that the tall stranger had been the Devil come to collect.

      The idea gained credence when the hauntings began. Sir Roland’s phantom was seen riding at full gallop through the village towards the church, pursued by a dark, scurrying shape that might have been a man, but could equally have been a monstrously deformed beast with horns. Time and again the terrible chase has been played out in spectral form. And always the ghosts vanish as they reach the churchyard. Did Sir Roland escape his fate by reaching holy ground in time? We will never know.

      Sir John Gostwick of Willington was nothing if not ambitious, but he relied on his brains rather than a pact with the Devil to gain his ends. The family estates he inherited at Willington in the early 16th century were fine, but hardly magnificent and much the same could be said for the manor house in which he lived. Sir John had his eyes set on grander things, so he went where all ambitious young men of good family went in Tudor England. He went to court.

      Unlike the other dashing young blades, Sir John forbore from flashy clothes, poetry writing and excessive flattery of the rich and the famous. Instead he chose to do dull, repetitive work and to run errands for court officials. Sir John had shrewdly guessed that if he made himself useful to the officials they would ensure he was always on hand when work was to be done, and that was when he might take his chance. Things fell out much as Sir John hoped and he was soon both popular and always present. Thus he earned himself the post of Master of Hounds to King Henry VIII. It was not a very highly paid position, but it gave him the king’s ear and many courtiers and businessmen were willing to present Sir John with gifts if he mentioned them kindly to the royal hunter.

      With this money, Sir John transformed his manor at Willington. The house and its outbuildings were rebuilt in magnificent style. No expense was spared and the village gained fame through its mighty manor. However, Sir John’s house has long since vanished. It was consumed by fire in the 18th century and today only the dovecote and other outbuildings survive to display his taste and wealth.

      THE MAGNIFICENCE OF THE STABLES AT WILLINGTON MANOR ATTRACTS THE RESTLESS SPIRIT OF THE MAN WHO BUILT THEM IN TUDOR TIMES.

      The wraith of Sir John has been seen to return from time to time to inspect the site of his beloved home, and wander across the wide green towards the church where he is buried. He strides purposefully, dressed in the doublet and hose so fashionable in the days when he came back from court, his fortune made.

      The Willington Manor that stands today is a pleasant Georgian residence with a small pool and fountain in the courtyard. Sir John has not been seen in the new house – perhaps he does not approve of it – but in the 19th century the manor was the centre of a remarkable haunting. So famous did it become that Bill Turner, a noted early psychic investigator, carried out a study here.

      A male ghost stalked the corridors of the house, though nobody seemed to have any idea who he might have been in mortal form. The investigation took several days, and Turner was able to gather impressive sighting reports and other evidence of the ghost’s reality. Not only was the ghost seen, but his heavy footsteps were heard, and the family’s pet dog would sometimes unaccountably go wild in the early hours of the morning. Turner was, however, unable to find any cause for the haunting and left it a mystery.

      Some years later, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, the house was being renovated. The works involved taking down the outbuildings linked to the kitchen, including the old dairy. Buried beneath the stone flags was found the skeleton of a man. There were no possessions to give a clue to his identity, nor to what grisly fate had brought his body to be secreted beneath the floor. But after the bones were taken away for a decent, if anonymous, Christian burial, the hauntings abruptly ceased.

      A burial that failed completely to put a ghost to rest was that of Black Tom, the local ne’er-do-well hanged for highway robbery in Bedford in the 17th century. His body was taken down from the scaffold in Union Street and thrown into a pit beside the crossroads with Tavistock Street. It may have been because of the lack of respect shown to his body, or perhaps anger at the fact of his execution, but for whatever reason Black Tom was soon back on the streets of Bedford.

      THE PAVEMENT OF UNION STREET IN BEDFORD IS THE HAUNT OF A GRUESOME SPECTRE.

      The ghost still appears walking down Union Street dressed in a long coat with embroidered buttonholes and high boots. A man who saw the ghost one Christmas in the mid-1990s described Black Tom as reeling down the road as if drunk. Indeed, he thought the figure was that of some reveller in fancy dress who had enjoyed too liquid a lunch. But there was something indefinably odd about the figure, which attracted attention. And then the ghost abruptly vanished. It did not slip behind a parked car or into a doorway. One second it was weaving along the pavement, the next it had gone.

      Linked to the legal system in a quite different way is the ghost of Bedford’s Mill Street. During the 1960s the staff of the Magistrates’ Courts had their offices here in an old Georgian house of grand proportions. The activities of a ghost hit the local headlines when none other than Mr Derek Payne, Deputy Clerk to the Court, had an encounter with the phantom.

      Mr Payne was in his office finishing off some work early one evening in December. He thought he was alone in the building, but heard footsteps approach his office, then there were two sharp knocks on the wooden door. Mr Payne got up and opened it, but nobody was there. A hurried inspection of the house showed that he was, indeed, alone in a locked building.

      If Mr Payne could not explain this eerie experience, his staff could. They had long known about the ghost, even naming him George, as he marched about a Georgian building. Tall and apparently heavy, ‘George’ walked the house at all times of the day or night, opening doors, twiddling door handles or causing unexplained noises of all kinds.

      THE MAGISTRATES’ COURTS IN BEDFORD ARE HOUSED WITHIN A FINE PUBLIC BUILDING, WHICH THEY SHARE WITH AN ACTIVE PHANTOM.

      When the story reached the newspapers, an elderly man who had lived in the house as a child wrote in to confirm the stories. The ghost had walked the house during his childhood, though his father had always refused to talk about it or to accept the phantom’s reality.

      A final legal haunting in Bedford afflicts the Magistrates’ Courts in St Paul’s Square. This ghost is generally reckoned to be a former Clerk to the Court who dropped dead of a massive heart attack at work one day. He is never seen, but his footsteps are heard and he slams doors with unseen hands.

      Berkshire

      Berkshire has the unique distinction of being a Royal County, due to the presence of the mighty royal fortress of Windsor Castle near its eastern boundaries. This did not save it from being seriously reduced in size during the reorganisation of England’s historic counties in the 1970s. Large areas of northern Berkshire were lost to Oxfordshire. What remains is largely level land, spreading out beside the Thames and in many places covered with fruit orchards. It is a gentle region, but some of the ghosts are very different.

      The road running out of Hungerford towards Andover and Salisbury climbs steeply from the River Kennet, which flows through the town, to the chalk hills. Atop the windswept heights, the road dips and turns as it pushes on across the open countryside. At night, or when dusk is closing in, a phantom coach pulled by four horses may suddenly emerge from out of nowhere and tear along at high speed. The horses are galloping wild-eyed and with flying hooves while the coachman stands at his seat wielding the whip with great ferocity.

      This startling apparition is the ghostly echo of an accident that took place here about 200 years ago. Nobody knows quite what happened, for there were no survivors, but a stagecoach carrying passengers north towards Hungerford overturned on the road just before the long hill down into the town. The wreckage was found by a pair of farmworkers walking down into Hungerford for the evening. They hurriedly reported the catastrophe, but there was nothing to indicate what had caused the vehicle to swerve off the road and crash to destruction.

      THE MAIN ROAD SOUTH OF HUNGERFORD IS HAUNTED BY A PHANTOM COACH.

      But if the evidence of the phantom re-enactment is to be believed, the coachman was whipping his horses to a frenzy in a mad desire for speed. Why there should have been such a fatal rush, nobody can say.

      Another ghost seen here appears only during daylight hours. She is a lady dressed in a long flowing dress who rides a great grey horse. She ambles serenely along as if on a gentle afternoon outing. Who she is and why she haunts the same stretch of road as the madly careering coach is not clear, but local belief has it that the two spectres are closely linked.

      While the A338 may boast two phantoms, it is Windsor that is the real ghostly capital of Berkshire. The town itself is remarkably ancient, but it is dominated, both physically and historically, by the mighty castle. Founded by William the Conqueror almost a thousand years ago, the castle guarded the western approaches to London throughout the Middle Ages. Charles II turned the grim fortress into a royal home, a transformation completed by George IV, who installed truly palatial rooms and buildings disguised as medieval fortifications.

      It is none of these monarchs that haunts the castle and its park, but a forester whose startling spectre has become one of the most famous and terrifying ghosts in all England. This is Herne the Hunter, a ghostly presence not to be trifled with. Even soldiers who have served on war-torn battlefields have turned pale and fled when confronted with Herne the Hunter. And the officers know the ghost and his reputation too well to discipline the men for leaving their posts unguarded. Such is the power of this spectre.

      Herne lived back in the days of King Richard II in the 14th century. Poor Richard seems to have been one of those people with the gift of doing the wrong thing at the wrong time and of rubbing up the wrong way all the people who might have done him some good and of being best friends with those who were only out for themselves.

      In those days everyone hunted to keep the larders stocked. Kings maintained hundreds of staff to run the financial and diplomatic affairs of the country and to keep the royal palaces clean and properly maintained. All these people needed to be fed. At all the royal residences a staff of hunters had to see that there were always plenty of deer, boars, birds and so on available and healthy to be hunted and eaten. They also needed to make sure that there were horses to be ridden, hawks to be flown and dogs to chase and corner prey.

      Being a hunter was a skilled and important job for the local lads. There was competition to be accepted by the in-crowd and then to rise to the top with all the perks of good cuts of meat, accommodation in cottages, sturdy uniforms and hand me downs from royalty for the wives and children.

      Herne was one such hunter at Windsor Castle. He was good at his job and pleasant in his manner. The king took a fancy to him and whenever Richard came to Windsor and wanted to go out hunting, he always chose Herne to ride with him. Herne showed him where to find the best stags and Herne’s two black hounds ran them down and lined them up. When Richard came up to shoot the stags he could scarcely miss.

      Herne could flush out a wild boar. He knew where to dig out a badger or start a fox or startle an otter. Instead of using each of the hunters in turn, starting with the longest employed and most important, Richard always chose Herne. Jealousy prevailed.

      One day the king, the Earl of Oxford and various others were out hunting a hart. Oxford, like most honest noblemen, despised Richard and wanted nothing more than to see him removed from the throne. The chase went on and on, with the king and Herne outstripping everyone else. When the stag finally turned at bay, only the king and Herne were in the clearing. The desperate stag gored the king’s horse and was about to gore the king, when Herne flung himself from his horse, put himself between the king and the stag and took the stabbing horn in his own body.

      Even though badly wounded, Herne pulled his knife, killed the stag and generally behaved in the heroic successful way that was getting him hated by everyone – except the king. Richard was of course very upset to see his favourite wounded and bleeding. He rode off looking for help and blowing Herne’s hunting horn to attract attention. Soon the Earl of Oxford and some of the other hunters caught up

      Richard told them how Herne had taken the blow meant for him and had thus saved the royal life. The Earl of Oxford did his best to seem pleased. The hunters, who were genuinely pleased that Herne had caught a mortal wound, did their best to look sorry.

      By this time Herne, though still alive, had fainted. The chief keeper, Osmond Crooke, drew his hunting knife. ‘Poor Herne,’ he said, ‘even if he survives he will never be fit and strong again. It would be merciful to kill him now.’ Osmond leaned forward to the approving murmurs of his fellow keepers and hunters and was about to kill Herne, when the king stopped him.

      ‘You cannot kill the man who has just saved my life,’ he said.

      The Earl of Oxford’s comments go unrecorded.

      ‘Why,’ went on King Richard, ‘I would give a huge reward to anyone who could save Herne’s life.’

      At those words, a strangely dressed, tall dark man mounted on a black steed rode into the clearing, dismounted and said he would take the king up on his offer. He said his name was Philip Urswick and that he could cure Herne. Richard promised him a huge reward and pardon for any former crimes and the deal was made.

      Then to everyone’s surprise, this so-called Philip Urswick cut the head from the fallen stag at the place where the head meets the neck. Then he sliced it down from the lower lip to make a wide opening, put it on to Herne’s head and bound it firmly into place. He said that Herne would be well again in a month, but that he must be taken to his, Philip’s, hut where he would look after him in person. So poor Herne was carried off to the small hut in the middle of Bagshot Heath.

      Now all this while Philip could hear the other hunters muttering that they wished Herne had been killed and that they were rid of him. So wanting to make all he could out of the event, Philip asked the hunters what they would give him to finish forever the triumphs of Herne. The outcome was that Philip said he must keep his bargain with the king and Herne would recover, but a spell would be on him, so that he would lose all his former skills.

      So it happened. At the end of the month Herne was thin and pale, but on his feet again and seemingly recovered. The king was pleased, gave Philip a purse of gold coins and a silver bugle and the happy hunting started all over again.

      However, nothing went right. Herne had lost all his skills. After a while King Richard said he would have to dismiss Herne from his service. Crazed with disappointment, Herne rushed away into the forest. As darkness fell he came galloping back with a chain wound round his arm and the stag’s head rammed once more on his head. He had fetched it from Philip’s cottage and was now wearing it like a helmet. All the other hunters laughed at him and Herne rushed away once more. A while later he was found hanging by a rope from the mighty oak tree that now bears his name.

      When he was told of the death, the king asked the priests to say prayers for the repose of Herne’s soul, but they refused, as Herne had apparently taken his own life. When the keepers went back to the oak tree to cut down the body of Herne, it was gone and it has never been found. Anyway the keepers managed to control their sorrow. They had other things to think about as the worst thunderstorm anyone could ever remember descended that night on Windsor, and the oak on which Herne had hanged himself was struck by lightening.

      When the storm was over, Osmond, the head keeper, got his old job of chief hunter back, as Herne was no longer there to do it, and the other hunters and keepers got their promotions. King Richard went on his way to another part of the country.

      Unfortunately, however, Osmond and the keepers found that they also had lost their powers and were no good as huntsmen. Fearing to lose their jobs, they went to consult Philip Urswick in his cottage on Bagshot Heath. He told them that Herne’s blood was on their hands and they must placate him. They were to go back to Windsor and go to consult Herne at the blasted oak where Herne had hanged himself. Back they went, arriving at midnight.

      It was pitch dark, but they picked out the oak because of the white part where a branch had been torn off by the lightning. A blue flame like a will o’ the wisp danced three times round the tree. Then Herne was standing in front of them, rattling the chain on his arm and with the horned stag’s head rammed down on his own head.

      Herne screamed with terrible laughter and told the hunters that the next night they must return dressed for the hunt and bring horses and dogs as if they

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1